Why is the Tianjin alkali plant at Tanggu important to China’s soda production?

The Tianjin alkali plant at Tanggu, formerly known as the Yongli plant, is significant to China’s soda production because it accounts for a large portion of the country's total output of purified soda, a portion of which is exported to Japan.1

The plant's location in Tanggu is strategically advantageous due to the district's long-standing importance as a source of salt. Salt is a primary raw material used in the ammonia-soda process, the modern industrial method for manufacturing soda ash (sodium carbonate). By leveraging the abundant salt supplies from the local fields—which have historically supplied a large proportion of the salt used in China’s industry—the facility serves as a critical hub within the broader chemical complexes of the Tianjin region.231